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#1
Cloning OS from SSD to M.2
I'm ordering my first M.2 drive and I need advice.
500g ssd to 500g m.2
Can I clone the OS?
What program should I use to clone?
Should I just reinstall windows?
Cloning OS from SSD to M.2
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New #2
You can clone.
You can image.
Macrium Reflect Free Edition is the standard recommendation, but others like Aomei can do it.
As far as I know, there are no complications introduced when going from a standard SSD to M.2.
Or you can clean install.
Is this an NVMe drive? If so, you need to confirm your motherboard does in fact support booting from an NVMe drive. Most likely it does.
Do you have that tiny tiny screw to attach the end of the M.2 drive to the motherboard??? I hope you do, they are difficult to buy if you don't. They are normally supplied with the motherboard, NOT the drive.
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New #3
Assuming standard hardware (BIOS, UEFI, M.2 implantation etc), use Macrium Free or similar program to image existing SSD (all partitions needed to boot) to external drive.
Create the Macrium USB boot disk/ CD (or other app's boot disk).
Remove SSD, install M.2 drive.
Boot with Macrium boot disk (or other app's disk), apply previously made image to M.2 drive from external disk, may need to use Macriums "fix Boot" option after image is applied, but then should be good to go.
Install SSD, wipe it and set it up for games, data whatever.
If you don't have an external drive for making an image you can try installing the M.2 and cloning the SSD to the M.2 drive, although this can be troublesome some times depending on which app you use to clone.
Another method if you don't mind doing it is to download Windows setup files to create a setup USB (use Media Creation Tool) unplug the SSD (to avoid potential conflicts/ setup errors), install the M.2, boot from the Windows setup USB and install Windows clean to the M.2. If this works and you boot successfully from the new M.2 installation, you can plug the SSD back in and wipe it as above.
Before doing anything at all though, I would recommend using Macrium or similar to image your existing system and create a Macrium (or similar) boot disk, test it works, then download the Windows setup files so you have a method of re installing Windows in case things go pear shaped. At least this way you should be prepared for most eventualities.
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New #4
For the record any cloning software will do not just Macrium. Also, some drives manufacturers include their own software for cloning purposes - Samsung includes their Samsung Data Migration software.
I myself used Acronis True Image 2018 to clone my Samsung SATA 512gig SSD drive to my NVMe 512gig SSD drive. I also could have used my copy of Paragon's Hard Disk Manager 16 for said purpose.
My point is if you have other backup programs that allow cloning chances are they'll work just as well. And the fact that you're moving to the same size drive should make the process rather easy.
Good luck.
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New #5
I did include in my post that he/ she could use Macrium (or other apps/ similar apps)….I listed Macrium first since it is the one I use and is quite highly regarded by the users of this forum, and there are in depth tutorials here for its use.
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New #6
It's a gigabyte g970a ds3p rev 2.0 a quick search on the internet says this can work with the riser adapter. I do have an external 250g ssd which should do the trick.
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New #7
From GA-970A-DS3P specs I don't see a M.2 socket.
Does your GA-970A-DS3P-rev-2x MB has a M.2 socket?
FYI, I have a M.2 drive and I only see the difference from a 2.5" SSD on the bench mark test.
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New #8
If this link is to be believed, the 970A DS3 Rev 2.0 cannot boot from an NVME SSD. M.2 as bootable drive on Gigabyte 970A-DS3P | Tom's Hardware Forum
There are no mentions of NVME on Gigabyte's web page for the board, or in the board's manual.
You'd probably be OK with a non-NVME M.2 card in a PCI-E slot adapter, but most M.2 PCI-E (not SATA) cards sold at this time are NVME.
It'd be safest to stay with a 2.5" SATA SSD. It won't benchmark the same as the fastest M.2 drives, but the real-world performance would still give a large improvement over a spinner.
I have an old non-NVME drive lying around, but it's PCI-E 2.0 X2, so it's not fast. Current NVME ones are PCIE-3.0 X4, with the latest being PCI-E 4.0 X4. The latter requires a new chipset and CPU that support PCI-E 4.0.
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New #9
The pci-e adapter is what I'm going for to make it work.
You're correct Megahertz, this board does not have an M.2 slot on it at all but my next board will.
I'm slowly in the process of upgrading to an i9-9900k with a 2080ti on an ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero z390 which does have I believe two M.2 slots
So if this little upgrade doesn't work with my current gigabyte board the next will for sure.
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New #10
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